The Snow Under the Mountain
by Reef-2-VB
Summary: The storm extended from the mountain and destroyed almost everything in its path. From it came the weak call of a dying soul - and they were the one to answer.
1. Snow

_What have I done?_

There was no covering up this… this mistake. This… lapse in judgement. Oh, god. Oh no, oh god. They were going to…

...be fine. Be fine. It would all be fine, they were the enemy after all, weren't they? And now… now, now they could go home. Mission completed. Monsters defeated.

But no, no, no, "Mom…? Dad…?" Their shaking voice escaped them as they reached out to touch the dust, reached out to the shaking hearts, there for but a moment. Unsuspecting, always trusting, _their child their human child they loved you and you betrayed them._ And then they shattered.

Wide eyes turned to the dust. All that remained of their parents.

They had been raised to kill monsters, and at last they'd killed monsters. The two most important monsters - to them, to all of monster kind. To…

"...Chara?"

Asriel.

"...stay away from me," they whispered, turning with a wave of their hand. Ice covered the floor, rose into a wall to prevent their adopted brother from coming closer. "Stay… stay away! No matter what I say, stay away from me!"

Faint from the other side were the questions, the oblivious questions, that did not yet realize their parents were dead. They tried to stand only to collapse back onto their knees, gasping at the pain in their chest. They wanted to die, they wanted to die.

They wanted the monsters to die.

The wall lowered, slowly, and they turned to stare at their poor, poor brother as he approached. And then as he stopped. As he stared at the human and the dust. As he asked, "Chara… wh-what did you do…?"

And something about that look in his eye gave them the strength to stand, the strength to stumble into his arms, still wide open for them despite the evidence of their deed. And they whispered, holding him as tight as they could manage, "No matter what I say or do, stay away from me."

Without warning the young prince was pushed aside, and before he even realized it he was trapped in the room, the door blocked off by ice.

It would be hours before the wall lowered, though nobody was there.

Hours before he realized, nobody was there.

A day before he, in tears, walked all the way to the ruins.

And there he found the human.


	2. Emptiness

Finally, they found an entrance.

It was entirely on accident, of course, but they were undoubtedly relieved. At the rate they were going they would've frozen to death before too much longer. Their torch had long since been blown out by the harsh winds, and when they finally realized they could travel no longer without risking freezing or starving to death they ducked inside a cave. And in that cave was a hole.

It seemed dangerous, peering down into it, but it looked like somebody had already come here once before. There was a rope to climb down, but… they knew once they went down they might not come back. Nobody came back from the mountain. Few had ever even tried. And they knew they were a fool to throw themself into the unknown, but what other choice did they have?

Everything was getting worse, and they knew that the solution was here.

So they started to climb down, knowing that they had to press on. They had limited supplies to work with and not a lot of time. Even if they succeeded, things might not get better on the surface… but they had to try.

They were the only hope for the future of humanity.

There were ruins here, as if once the area had been inhabited. But there were no inhabitants to be found. It was warmer, at least, compared to the snowy hell up above, though that honestly wasn't much comfort considering the eery silence. What if everything that had lived down here had already died out, and they were wrong?

They'd die down here, if that was the case.

Empty corridor after empty corridor. Nothingness, and more nothingness.

Until they reached... "Home."

It was rather dark inside the building at the end of the ruins, but it looked… inhabited. The furniture in the front room wasn't dusty or broken down, the calendar… was recent. In the living room, the fire was going strong, and beyond that… the light to the kitchen was on. Maybe something lived down here after all. They still lingered in the living room, because it was warm, and they were so… unused to this feeling. Never in all their days had the fireplace back home given them so much comfort, but they had learned to trust fire. It was the only thing that kept them alive.

The person who lived here… maybe they could trust them. So they took a deep breath, and snuck over to the door, peeking in.

The first things they noted were the smell - was that cinnamon? - and the sound - the humming coming from the being within. They weren't really a person, but were at least... person-shaped. They were white, and fuzzy, and child-sized. They seemed… so nonthreatening, it was honestly a little funny.

The monster turned towards them, not yet noticing them, carrying a pie. They ducked back behind the wall, not saying anything as the monster obliviously walked by, going to go and put it on the table. Should they say something? They were technically breaking and entering. The monster was just baking, and here was this human to ruin their day. But… no, they had to do something. Maybe it'd share the pie.

ACT GREET

"Wh-" It turned toward them, very abruptly, and upon seeing them… screamed. And dropped the pie - landing so that it was not damaged, thankfully - as it suddenly walked over to them, putting them on the defensive before instead of attacking it just said, "You! Should not! Be here!"

They didn't have much time to react before it had grabbed their arm, jerking them back toward the main room again, muttering, "Today of all days… They're on their way already, and another one would come up here…" The two of them stomped through to the hallway, past a few rooms, before the human was released and told to, "Wait here. I have to check something. I can't explain right now, but you'll… be safe. Just let me do what I have to." And then it disappeared inside a room that had a sign on it claiming it was under construction. O… kay…

They took the time to look around, but didn't dare snoop in any rooms. Instead, they made their way to the mirror at the far end of the hall and looked at their reflection.

CHECK

*FRISK 5 ATK 20 DEF

*14 years old. Short brown hair. Tawny, beige skin.

*Here to stop the storm.

It's you.

The door down the hall opened, and after a moment of frantic searching for them, the monster waved to them to come in quickly. The room was… fairly normal and didn't look under construction, but that was none of their business. He motioned around the bed that was there, and when they stepped to look at the other side there was… a hole in the ground? Big enough for somebody their size to crawl in, but not very welcoming. But… it was also warm.

"Listen, I don't really have time to explain." It waved toward the hole, looking nervous, and said, "I have a fire going down there. Magic, so it won't hurt anything unless you touch it. You humans seem to love that sort of thing. Um… Somebody is coming who really hates humans. Like, they'll be here any minute now, so… I need you to wait here."

"...in the hole," they grumbled, looking at it as if it was stupid. This seemed awfully like a trap.

"In the hole," it repeated, nodding. "Look, I know it looks bad. But I'm really trying to help you out here. Every other human who's come down here… look, I can't exactly explain right now. You have to trust me." It sat on the bed, and looked… oddly defeated. They weren't sure how to feel, honestly. "Please."

This was potentially the last mistake they'd ever make in their life, but okay. They sighed, and sat down to ease into the hole in the floor. It was… more spacious than it looked up top. Enough room for them to sit somewhat comfortably, and place their bag on the floor in front of them, with the fire closeby but not too much. Was this space specifically made for this purpose? What was even going on down here?

"Good, good, thank you. I'll… be back. I can't really say when. As soon as possible, though! And then I'll explain things." The monster moved to close the door that would officially hide them from the world above, but paused to say, "Oh, and by the way, I'm Asriel!"

Asriel… "Frisk," was all they said, because it was all they had time to say, before he was closing the door. All they heard was a muffled, "Nice to meet you, Frisk!"

And… then they were alone.


End file.
